Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the German Shepherd Dog Forums forums, you must first register.
Please enter your desired user name, your email address and other required details in the form below.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

OR

Log-in

User Name

Password

Remember Me?

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.

Additional Options

Miscellaneous Options

Automatically parse links in text

Automatically embed media (requires automatic parsing of links in text to be on).

Automatically retrieve titles from external links

Topic Review (Newest First)

03-10-2014 07:33 PM

BensLife

I agree with billsharp, maybe rethink getting a puppy at this time because you're going to be gone for most of the day and having your mother look after the puppy isn't a good idea either because the puppy will know your mom as the handler and not look at you as his handler. I know you want to make this work but you also have to think about how the puppy will be when you're gone for almost half the day or even the whole day. There are some things you need to reconsider before the puppy comes because some of your ideas may work but may not be in the best interest of the puppy.

Glad to see you're committed to make it work. I assume that means in the best interest of the pups, within reason. If so, can you hire a person to come fill in for you and do what the pups need during your 12 hour shifts? That person would keep them crated for no more than a couple of hours at a time, and take them out for potty, play, exercise, etc. about 6 times during that shift, every day you have that shift.

Don't leave them outside together by themselves at this age. You need to carefully introduce the new pup to the older one, they need to bond with you and accept each other, etc. There is a lot of interaction that needs to take place between them with no conflict before they can be trusted alone with each other. You may be setting up an aggression situation that will be hard to undo once it gets started.

Otherwise, I'd recommend reconsidering taking on the new pup at this time.

03-10-2014 05:53 PM

whitbit317

DPC and Daisyline, those are the two solutions I'm most leaning towards. I didn't really know which would be tolerated better, the outdoor dog run or being kept inside and isolated to one area. I have a pretty open floor plan with tile floors throughout so I'm not terribly worried about mess. If I elected to go for the dog run the pup would be out in the TX heat this summer but have shade and water.
My mother currently watches my dog when I work 24 hour shifts, and I have a feeling she will end up taking the puppy to her house at least initially, but I don't want to rely on that possibly happening.

03-10-2014 05:01 PM

dpc134

I am a big supporter of dogs being outside instead of being locked in a crate inside all day. However, I think that an 8 week old pup outside unattended is risky.
I would recommend a large area inside the house to keep the pup in while you are gone. Put down paper or pee pads in an area where you want your pup to potty. Then when you are home, use the same paper or pee pads and take the the pup outside and have the pup go potty outside on the paper / pee pads. This way, the pup will learn that the paper/pee pad is the right spot to potty. You can then transition the paper/pee pads outside when you are doing housebreaking exercises.

03-10-2014 04:34 PM

Daisyline

Is a playpen inside a screened in porch an option? With lots of chew toys and things to occupy him. This is what we considering on doing.

03-10-2014 04:17 PM

Chip18

A 8 month old a new puppy and 12 hour shifts several days a week? Yeah.

03-10-2014 04:16 PM

Lark

That's a good point Eiros. My puppy was almost 5 months old before he was left in the crate and let out in the middle of the day, so he was long housebroken already.

03-10-2014 04:14 PM

Eiros

You're committed to making it work, but I don't hear anything about what's actually right for this puppy. You are planning on leaving a BABY alone for 12 hours. It will not have any bladder control, so having someone come halfway through a 12-hour day is not doing any good either. If outside, what's stopping your baby puppy from eating rocks, dirt, grass, feces, sticks, leaves, insects, etc. which could kill it?

I think a pup that age should be supervised almost constantly. After a few weeks, you could probably leave it alone for an hour or two and go from there. But at 8 weeks, if you can't be there, no situation is good for your puppy. Not crating, not leaving in the yard. That's my opinion on this whole thing.

Is there any way to have somebody come in the middle of the day and let the puppy out to use the bathroom and run around for a bit? I have hired a high school girl in the past that came around 2:30pm each day and played for an hour with the puppy. She was very responsible and I didn't have to pay her much because she loved doing it.

Also, my dog is almost 2 and I would be terrified of the trouble he would get into if he wasn't confined while I was at work. I know some dogs can handle being out of the crate, but mine definitely isn't at that point yet. Mine would drive the neighbors nuts barking at squirrels and things if he was out all day.

03-10-2014 03:24 PM

BensLife

You have to keep in mind that this is a puppy. The best way to train your puppy to not pee in the house is to crate it when you can't look after it. When you're walking around the house have the puppy leashed onto your hip so you can watch it's every move. I wouldn't recommend you locking it up in the bathroom because your puppy can start chewing on the cabinets or get to dangerous chemicals you keep in storage. Also, you can just get a crate with dividers so you can crate the puppy after it eats and then take it out so house training will become easier. I don't think that keeping an 8 to 10 week puppy outside is a good idea, but that's just my opinion.

This thread has more than 10 replies.
Click here to review the whole thread.